Posts

Throwback: Kulcha – Soul Feeling (1994)

As a Pacific Islander who grew up in Australia, Kulcha is dear to my heart. I was the only Islander at my primary school until my sister turned up, and by then I was about to leave. Safe to say that I didn’t see much of Pacific Islanders outside of church, so when Kulcha hit the Australian Top 40 in 1994 with songs like ‘Soul Feeling’ and ‘Fly Girl’, I was presented with pop r’n’b that I could clearly identify with.

Of course there were things I couldn’t identify with, like cycle training in a velodrome, or quilted red leather vests, or undercuts that were not ever meant for curly Islander hair; but through Kulcha I realized what it must have been like for my cousins in New Zealand, when they got to seeChe Fu or Upper Hutt Posse or The Semisi Family on regular scheduled programming. So, today when I think of the boys from Greater Western Sydney I almost think of them as people I know (even though I don’t), because they were a pivotal part of my growth as a ‘fob’ kid in Sydney. So if you’re like me and Kulcha is a staple in your Australian upbringing, can we just put two hands together, bounce up and down and do ‘the dolphin’ while singing the chorus like in the video?